I write and speak about technology's impact on business and life in books, for Forbes and occasionally for business. I'm author of five books including Age of Context and Naked Conversations and am currently researching a book with the working title of The We Economy: How Technology Gives Everyone a Better Shot. Pitch me by email: ShelIsrael1@gmail.com.

9 Tips on Conducting Great Interviews

In my career, I have conducted thousands of interviews, been interviewed hundreds of times and as a media consultant, I have also observed thousands of interviews from a neutral seat. There are a few tips that have worked consistently well for me and perhaps they will help you. I write this from a media professional’s point of view, but I think many of these points are applicable to business and employment interviews as well.

1. Start slow, safe and personal.

I usually begin with a question that focuses on the person and not the topic at hand, such as: “Where did you grow up,” or “what was your first job out of college?” First off, you relax your subject and you humanize the interaction. This relaxes the atmosphere, starts the conversation on safe ground, and let’s you get a sense of the where your subject is coming from. Second, you sometimes get a surprisingly good story.

Many years ago, when Oracle was a startup on a meteoric rise, Larry Ellison was interviewed by a veteran magazine reporter. The subject was corporate strategies related to database software. But the reporter started by asking Ellison where he was born an raised. Ellison known for his aggressive and independent style, revealed that he was raised by a single mom and spent much of his youth on the streets of Chicago. This, for many years, became a key component of the Ellison persona and the Oracle’s street-tough competitive style.

2. Coax, don’t hammer.

The “shock jock” interviewer may get daytime TV audiences to cheer and jeer, but chances are your audience is too sophisticated and businesslike for such low-rent tactics. I prefer interviews who have the up-close, but soft style that coaxes revealing, newsworthy, useful answers. For that reason, I am a huge fan of NPR’s Terry Gross, host of the long-running Fresh Air. She coaxes the most revealing content out of her subjects, by adopting a very personal rapport and asking questions, in a “c’mon, you can tell me” style. People tell her the most amazing stuff. I’ll bet a few of them later wonder whatever possessed them to reveal certain matters on national television.

3. Make some questions open ended.

All interviews require you to ask specific questions that get answered with narrow data points. “What was you last job title?” But, in my experience, the most interesting responses I get come from open-ended questions, such as, “What is your vision for your organization five years from today?” or one of my current favorites, “Do you worry about any unintended consequences from what you are trying to accomplish?”

Years ago, I interviewed Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace a controversial segregationist running for the presidential nomination. I was no fan of his, but made it my business not to show my personal animosity. I asked hom what he thought the voters of Massachusetts shared in common with him. “They are as tired as I am of big government stomping on hard-working folks butts,” he said. This is a tired old saw today, but that interview may be the first time a candidate personified “big government” bullying everyday people. Wallace almost won that Massachusetts primary. His campaign sent me a thank you note for giving Wallace the chance to state his case. I have regretted it ever since, but it was where I learned my job was to get the interviewee to tell his story and let the readers decide what they think of his or her ideas.

4. Ask what you don’t know.

There’s a lawyer’s tip that advises you to only ask witnesses questions that you already know the answers to. I do the opposite. I ask questions on issues where I am clueless what the answer will be. Lawyers hate surprises. As a journalist–or reader–I love them. Surprises mean I have something that has not been previously reported.

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The most important need for any Company and the interviewer is to know: What are the skills/qualifications needed, now, to do the advertised job? The last incumbent’s skills/qualifications list may not identify: What made him/her extra suitable for the job tasks? This may be the most important quality that is needed to do the job well.

Great article! Not only does it give quality tips for an effective interview, it also characterizes the philosophy of interviewing in general. I’m sharing it with my newsroom at Vanguard University for our school paper.